High tea will benefit EPAC

Sugar Arts at Doneckers will host a High Tea for Christmas to benefit Ephrata Performing Arts Center. The tea will be held Sunday, Dec. 6, at 2 p.m.. Titled Hats Off to EPAC, the event is a tribute organized by board member Jennifer Farrington.

Julie Bashore, owner of Sugar Arts, will present English Christmas traditions of high tea. Each guest will then partake in a traditional tea service, complete with tasty treats and a time of sharing of Christmas “crackers,” the cardboard paper tubes wrapped in brightly colored paper and twisted at both ends, resembling a sweets wrapper, with small prizes, paper crowns, and a printed joke inside.

Guests are encouraged but not required to wear tea attire, including hats, to help promote the atmosphere of a traditional English high tea.

EPAC performers will provide musical entertainment, including a Christmas sing-a-long. Sarah Repkoe, a long-time EPAC favorite, will provide music direction and piano accompaniment. This is the second year for the event, but the first year it is being presented with a Christmas theme.

“Eveything that will be presented will be very typically English,” Bashore said. “Having been born in England and raised in the British Colony of Rhodesia – now Zimbabwe – I hold even more tightly to these traditions than those living in England might. Hosting high tea is one of my favorite things to do.”

Edible delights will include traditional tea fare, such as English sausage rolls and scones, and also items from an English Christmas dinner table, such as a taste of figgy pudding with brandy sauce.

“People are always fascinated with figgy pudding, but not everyone really knows what it is — it is very rich, so just a taste will do to see what it is all about,” said Bashore.